The first day of jury selection in the Lake County trial of Yang -– a 43-year-old Chicago woman accused of killing the girlfriend of former Chicago Bears player Shaun Gayle and her unborn baby -– ended with nearly half of the 12-member panel seated.

Attorneys will also choose three alternate jurors for the trial, which is expected to last about three weeks.

Jury selection started off smoothly, with attorneys from both sides agreeing to seat on the panel the first person from the jury pool that they questioned. He’s a 36-year-old married father of four who works as a website design manager for a retailer and said he’s lived in Lake County for three years.

The other jurors selected Tuesday are:

-- A man in his 60s who, before retiring, worked as an operations manager for a manufacturing importing company. He is married, has one daughter and two granddaughters and served in the Air Force in the 1960s.-- A man in his early 50s who works for a village government as a department supervisor. He is married and has one adult son, and said he enjoys bass fishing during his free time.-- A man in his early 30s who works as a carpenter for the Department of Defense. He served in the Air Force for four years and is married with four children.-- A man about 60 years old who said he is set to retire soon from his job as a food company manager. He is married with three children and four grandchildren. He was a onetime member of the National Rifle Association.

Some jurors were eliminated because they said they’d followed the case closely in the media; others were excused because of pending spring break vacation plans.

A list of potential trial witnesses, read to the jury pool Tuesday, included not only Gayle but two of his former Chicago Bears teammates from the 1985 Super Bowl squad.

Included in the long list of potential witnesses were ex-Bears Tom Thayer and Emery Moorehead. It wasn’t clear whether they will actually be called to testify or for which side.

Potential jurors were asked to speak up if they knew any of the potential witnesses personally, as that would be grounds for excusing them. One woman said that Moorehead is her real estate agent.

Judge Christopher Stride admonished all jurors and potential jurors not to read or view any news about the case or post anything about their experience on any social media sites.

Yang is accused of shooting Rhoni Reuter, killing her and her unborn baby girl, on Oct. 4, 2007, in Reuter’s Deerfield condo. Yang was arrested and charged in March 2009 and has been held in Lake County Jail since then.